


chasing shadows

by Darth Occlus (NotSummer)



Series: deliverance [3]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Assassination, Bugs & Insects, First Meetings, Gen, Minor Character Death, Mission Fic, Murder, Pre-Relationship, Secrets, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 04:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotSummer/pseuds/Darth%20Occlus
Summary: Jesse's first assignment as an ARC trooper is to a Jedi General with an empty mission record. Their first mission to track down a traitor and eliminate him: something she seems rather comfortable with for a Jedi.





	chasing shadows

Naida tapped silently through maps, not saying anything and Jesse was privately glad he had his helmet on so he could roll his eyes before asking, “Am I doing anything in this plan, ma’am?” They'd been getting along the past two days after a rougher start, but her switch to mission mode was leaving him flat footed and in the dark.

She looked up, blinking rapidly, and then her expression cleared before turning apologetic. “Phwoar, sorry. I got too used to running missions on my own, I think. After, well, anyways.” She shook her head and cut herself off. “If you can wait at this junction, I’ll herd him towards you. I don’t want to chase him to the shuttle and risk him getting away and admittedly I want him to know who’s after him. Bastard.”

“How are you going to herd him?” Jesse shifted studying the map and memorizing the layout of the abandoned mining facility. There wasn’t any notes on why it was abandoned, and he hoped that wasn’t going to come back and bite them.

“I’ll use a few Jedi tricks,” Naida said absently. “You’ll know them when you see them. I’m not supposed to talk about them, but that won’t stop you from seeing them.” She scrunched up her nose. “Old rules and traditions. Force forbid we adapt to the times.”

Jesse muffled a snort. That sounded about right for the Jedi. “Any word on why this place was abandoned?”

Naida scowled. “I can’t find anything except some vague mentions of some accident. There’s no details, and I can’t find names of people who were involved to ask.  _ None _ of my contacts know anything.”

“So we’ll be cautious,” Jesse surmised.

She nodded. “Do you want me to look around first? I won’t be noticed.”

Jesse stared at her. She was resplendent in white robes, with gold and black fabrics, and her skin was bright red with gold and black tattoos. She was hard  _ not  _ to notice. He looked for words to ask her how she was going to manage not being noticed, and then shrugged.

She frowned a bit, not understanding his pause and then inhaled and explained, “Oh, there’s Force tricks.”

That didn’t really explain anything. “Can’t talk about them either, ma’am?” Damn, but it was hard having a partner who couldn’t talk about her skills or past experience. Jesse didn’t even know how to work with her.

Naida groaned, dragging her hands down her face before giving him an exhausted look. “Nope,” she said, popping the vowel sound. “Last time I worked with a partner, we ended up sparring quite a bit, since I’d use my tricks then, but I didn’t know if you’d be comfortable sparring with a Jedi.” She looked away. “Especially since I use two double bladed lightsabers.”

Jesse’s blood ran cold for a moment and Umbara rushed back. He shook off his sudden chill, and said, “It might have helped, ma’am. And I’ll be fine.”

Of course she knew. That wasn’t fair. Why did she get to have his file and he couldn’t have hers? He knew why, really, but he stewed for a few beats.

The look on her face was indecipherable, but he caught a tinge of guilt. “I’d tell you if I could,” she said. “I’m sorry. These rules and traditions… they’re far older than the Ruusan reformation, they’re thousands of years old. And no one wants to change them.”

“I understand, ma’am,” Jesse replied, and she gave him a relieved look. She hit the button to turn the map off and then glided to the Occlus’s ramp. Her form shimmered gold and then disappeared, and Jesse blinked as he stepped down the ramp, looking around the waving grasslands surrounding the mine.

There was no trace of her, not even a path through the grass. Jesse swallowed his unease. The last time he’d lost track of a Jedi like this, Krell had jumped out of nowhere and killed dozens of his brothers.

She wasn’t like other Jedi: she was causal about killing, comfortable with smuggling and illegal weapons dealing, and he had picked up enough to know she had massive networks of contacts and information dealers. He tried to remind himself she wasn’t like Krell either. He wasn’t blind enough to miss that she was seeking his approval, she giggled when she won a hand of cards after cheating outrageously, and she had made way for him to stay on her ship, doing what she could to make him comfortable. As a person, he genuinely liked her.

It didn’t stop the shivers going down his back. He slipped into the mining facility, keeping as quiet as he could before rappelling down a broken elevator shaft. He hacked into the sole communication tower while he moved, rerouting its feeds to his HUD, and then waited for something to happen as he crept through the tunnels. There were smaller tunnels leading out from the shaft he was walking through, and he bent to inspect them. Whatever had made them wasn’t home, and he walked on.

He had a bad feeling. He thought he heard something, and he took a chance and turned his helmet lamp on, staring in the direction the scuttling noise had arose from. There was nothing there. He groaned, and then moved on, turning his head lamps back off lest he give away his position. He settled down at the junction Naida had pointed out, waiting.

Eventually, his comm pinged and he opened the feed in his HUD, watching the traitor running from… something. Jesse squinted: the mines were too dark for any image quality, but he could make out something almost… writhing or slithering. The chills reappeared.

The shadows were moving, chasing the traitor.

Jesse hadn’t even bothered to learn his name. The nat born officer had decided life on the fleet was too hard and had sold out to the Seppies. Dozens of Jesse’s brothers had died because of it, and the Republic had lost a key system.

Still: she had said she’d herd him. She hadn’t said she was going to terrify him. She hadn’t said she was going to make him terrified, and these powers, the tricks she had casually referred to, they were something he’d never seen before.

Not that he was upset the traitor was suffering. Vindictiveness beat in his heart as he listened to the scum beg for help, panting loudly, probably pissing himself as he sent a comm that wasn’t going anywhere but to Jesse. There was no one coming for him but them. Jesse started to recognize some of the shapes in his HUD on the feed, and he stood, turning off the feed and baring his teeth in a bloodthirsty smile.

The traitor stumbled into the junction, tripping over his feet, trying to get away from the seething shadows haunting his every step. He managed to scramble to his feet, and Jesse hit him, hard, the punch sending him back down to the ground, sprawled dazed on his back. Jesse turned his head lamp on, and the traitor squirmed away from it, his eyes going wide with terror as the light illuminated the edges of the ARC armor.

The darkness beyond him coalesced into Naida’s silhouette and then her own vibrant colors seeped back into her form. She raised her hand and golden fields wrapped around their target’s wrists before lifting him into the air where he struggled helplessly. “You got a lot of people killed,” she snarled.

Her fangs glinted in the faint light thrown by her barriers as she spoke, and she activated one of her lightsabers, the purple beam lighting up the junction. The traitor blubbered, and she made a disgusted noise before moving the tip of her lightsaber under his chin. “Do you want to or should I, Jesse?” She sounded as if she was discussing who was going to empty the dishwasher, and not an execution.

Jesse pulled his pistol out of its holster and fired before replacing it and then putting his hands on his utility belt. His hands were shaking, and he gripped his belt tighter, trying to hide it. She let the body drop with a wet thud, looking at it distastefully before giving Jesse a long look. There was sympathy in her eyes, and she reached out to put her hand on his gauntlet. “The first time is never easy,” she said softly.

“It’s not the first execution I’ve been part of,” he said, looking away from the body. It was so much easier to kill droids or people on the opposite side of a battlefield.

She studied him for a moment, and then her hand squeezed around his wrist before disappearing.  He felt cold suddenly, without her warmth there, and he paused before following her back towards the entrance. Her lightsaber lit the tunnels around them as they walked, and he was glad for the silence.

She’d tried to give him an out. Given him a way to avoid the dirty work so she could take it upon herself. Privately, he was grateful to her, that she’d even thought of it, and that she let him make the choice. Still, he had something to prove, that he could be part of Special Ops and that he could do these missions. “It wasn’t hard, ma’am,” he said, his bravado forcing the words he didn’t quite feel past his lips.

She raised a brow at him. “Of course not. It’s always easy to pull a trigger. It’s making a choice and living with the death afterwards that’s hard.” Years of experience weighed down her voice, making her sound decades older than she was.

“You talk about death very casually,” he noted.

She shrugged. “I was eleven the first time I looked a man in the eyes and then killed him. I’ve gotten used to it.” She blanched suddenly, and then looked guiltily at him, “Please don’t repeat that.”

He started to open his mouth to tell her he wouldn’t, and then went still. “Turn the lightsaber off.” There was something out there.

The humming of her blade went silent as the light died, and the clicking grew apparent. He stepped closer to her, looking around, but the noise was all around them and rapidly growing louder.

A golden field burst into life around them, weaving itself into a dome. The shield sent golden light scattering across the tunnels, and Jesse stared at the swarm of bugs pouring out of the small tunnels he’d seen earlier. “I think I know what the disaster was,” he said slowly.

“I think you might be right,” she said, her voice high pitched. She pointed at a bug that had a scrap of hair stuck in its jaws, still with bits of scalp attached and dropping blood. It was the same hair their target had.

It was the first time he’d seen her off-kilter, and frankly, he didn’t blame her. The bugs were all sorts of colors, giving him a slight headache, and there was a palpable menace emanating from them. He took a step closer to the middle of the barrier dome.

“Do you want to wait them out or try to keep moving?” Jesse watched her recover her calm until she looked nearly placid despite the swarm of insects that was waiting to eat them alive.

“What do you think is safer?”

She looked thoughtful. “Well, they’re not attacking the barrier, so they might be more guarding. I know they ate the ensign, but he was dead. Easy prey.” She tapped her lips, looking thoughtful. “Can you relay a kill command to all comms? Shut down all signals? There were no signs of life before we got here, and he turned on the comm relay, which we’re now hooked into.”

“You realize we won’t be able to bring the comms back remotely, Naida?” His fingers typed the commands into his wrist computer, and he waited for her confirmation.

“I can keep us safe,” she assured him. “My barriers  _ will _ hold.”

Jesse nodded and then sent the command. His comms turned to static and he shut them off, watching the bugs for a reaction. The angry wingbeats and swarming of the bugs started to die and he looked over at her in surprise. 

“I have no affinity with animals, but I could sense they were irritated,” she explained. “Emotion is one thing I can pick up on. I mean, I have to be able to read the world around me to do my job.” The swarm was taking a while to dissipate and she knelt down on the ground, ready to outwait the bugs. Jesse hesitated and then sat down next to her, and she smiled at him. “I guess if you want to ask me anything we have the time,” she said.

Jesse snorted. “I think it might take a couple decades for me to ask all my questions, Naida.”

Her lekku twitched. “And it might take twice that for me to answer them.” There was a mischievous gleam in her eyes, but she tilted her head, listening.

“General Zey said you belonged to another sect of Jedi,” Jesse said eventually. “I’ve picked up that you’re, well… not like other Jedi. Skywalker might not flinch at murder but I know the others do. You’re the only other Jedi I’ve met that wasn’t bothered by it... Although… Well, there was one other.”

She stared at her hands, which lay palms up on her knees, their centers glowing as she sustained the barrier. “I know.” Her lekku moved listlessly but he couldn’t read the movements, and she finally said, “I do belong to another sect. We’re part of the main Order, and yet apart from it.”

She looked up at him, contemplation written over her face, and finally said, “If anyone asks, I never said anything, but I like working with you, and you’re a good man. You’ve earned some honesty, and it’s not fair you get to know nothing about me.”

She took a deep breath and continued before he could say anything. “I’m a Shadow, a Jedi Shadow. I can't give you details, but we're trained for black ops. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what that entails. There’s only ever a few dozen of us at a time. We’re too dangerous otherwise. We spend our lives away from the Order and the Temple, in the worst parts of the galaxy and in political halls.”

She smiled bitterly. “Sometimes those are the same places.”

Jesse couldn’t help a chuckle at that, and he took off his helmet, putting it in his lap and leaning on it slightly. “Thank you for telling me.” He was pleased to hear she didn’t think it was fair either.

She tilted her head, her expression growing stormy. “I do a lot of terrible things, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own thoughts on right and wrong. You’re my partner, you need the information.”

“You disagree with the Order, ma’am?”

Her expression went even darker. “The Order and I disagree on a lot of things. I’m sure a lot of my opinions will slip out at some point or another.” She made an effort to lighten up, and then cracked a joke, “I mean, who wants to wear beige all the time?”

He went with the deflection, knowing she was toeing a line being so forthright, and retorted, “Hell if know, ma’am. Fan of blue or black, myself.”

Her smile turned genuine. “Those are good colors. I think I have a dress somewhere in blue and black.” Her lekku curled up, and she teased, “You know, if you stick with me, we’ll have to go out and get civilian clothes.”

“No beige,” he said dryly, and she laughed, throwing her head back.

“Cross my heart, no beige,” she said once she’d recovered.She went still for a moment, and then said, “You know, you’re free to use my name. Miyala.”

“I’d like to stay professional, Naida,” Jesse said, “You’re still a Jedi.” Sure, he’d cheated her at cards on their hyperspace trip, but hell, he’d cheated General Skywalker and Captain Rex on a few campaigns too. Names were something else.

She nodded, accepting it. “That’s fair. Although there might be some missions where you need to use my name or an alias if we’re undercover or something.”

Jesse nodded. “I’ll save my unprofessionalism for those, then.”

She smiled, and then giggled a bit. “Is cheating at cards professional, then?”

Jesse grinned. “General Skywalker’s eyebrow ticks whenever he has a good hand, and he likes to try and hide cards in his cybernetic. It has yet to work.”

Naida cackled at that, her laughter sending her leaning backwards again. “I like your priorities.”

“I do my best, ma’am,” Jesse said, her amusement infectious. The last bugs were scuttling away, and he watched them go before turning back to her. He was starting to realize why Hardcase had always been willing to joke around and lighten everyone’s moods as opposed to Jesse’s own more typical bitter comments and dark humor. It was a nice feeling, watching her laugh because of something he said.

She reminded him of Hardcase, a bit. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly, since their mannerisms were vastly different, but perhaps it was her vibrance: she clearly felt things strongly, and she was open about her feelings. And yet, just like Hardcase, there was a slyness running underneath, something clever and subtle about them that caught little details and found creative solutions.

He stood up, stretching, and put his helmet back on. She dropped the barrier, her movements cautious, but nothing happened, and both of them silently agreed to hurry to the mine shaft leading to the surface. His feet skidded along the ground as they stopped in the elevator shaft. She wasn’t tall enough to reach the elevator hatch so Jesse wrapped his hands around her waist, boosting her up to the open panel at the top of the rusted and broken elevator.

He jumped as she disappeared, catching the edges. Naida grabbed his pauldron, helping to pull him up, and his armor scraped over the metal as he clambered onto the top.He brushed the dirt off his armor, scowling at the scrape in his new chest plate. She was studying the shaft, looking for footholds, but he fired a cable, attaching the small winch to his utility belt.

He held his arm out, keeping one hand on the cable, and she held on as the cable winched them up, his feet kicking down dust and rocks as he kept them from slamming into the elevator shaft wall. They reached the top, and she closed her eyes, a golden shimmering spreading from wall to wall under their dangling feet.

She let go of him, landing soundlessly on the barrier, and scampered out, turning to face him.

Jesse stared down through the barrier at a drop that would kill him for sure. He closed his eyes and then, choosing to trust her, released the cable. The barrier caught him, and he took two long strides onto solid ground, where he bent over. “I don’t want to do that again.”

She patted his shoulder. “I wasn’t going to let you fall.” Jesse groaned, and straightened back up, and her expression turned sly as she pressed a button on her wrist commlink and said, “After all, I’m…”

She trailed off and a song burst from her commlink, “Never gonna let you down, never gonna give you-.”

He grabbed her commlink and turned the song off. Naida snickered, twisting her wrist out of his grip and headed back towards the Occlus parked on the hill, humming loudly.

Jesse rolled his eyes, a fond smile creeping over his face despite himself. Maybe his new partner was alright.


End file.
